


A Shift in Polarity

by lossair



Category: Mamamoo
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:01:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28621461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lossair/pseuds/lossair
Summary: In an alternate universe, there was an exponential growth of genetic mutation that allowed people to have super powers. Later on, scientists have renamed it as quirks.  Where the majority have quirks, it has unlocked new grounds for humanity.  Because of it, some use it to protect the ones you love and some use it for darker reasons. Those who have malicious intent create chaos and are considered villains by society. Those who protect the weak are considered heroes.Yongsun desires to protect and help as many people as possible, but will pay the price of whatever it takes. Byulyi wants to live up to the title that everyone praised her to be, a child genius. However, burnt out, Byulyi has forgotten what it means to be a hero. Hyejin wants to help the weak, but society seems to think it’s impossible for her. They’ll criticize her until she knows her place. Wheein hopes to use her talents for good, and wants to prove people wrong of who she is. Unfortunately, she is burdened by her past, and it seems to be catching up with her.Will they become the top heroes of society or will they break before reaching their goals?
Relationships: Ahn Hyejin | Hwasa/Jung Wheein, Kim Yongsun | Solar/Moon Byulyi | Moonbyul
Comments: 14
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Highly inspired by the universe of My Hero Academia and the incredible art design of https://twitter.com/Tova_nori/status/1144874752013524992. Please check them out, if you haven’t. I genuinely love their work. I will be borrowing some of their concepts. 
> 
> Everything is fictional and it is meant for entertainment purposes. Any names that are shared with real existing people, places, and etc. does not represent them in anyways of their actual personality, culture, or etc. and my views on them.
> 
> If there’s any grammatical or semantic errors, I’ll fix it as soon as I can or notice it. It’s been awhile since I wrote anything. 

The homeroom teacher begins to stare intensely on a sheet of paper. His eyes are darting back and forth reading the names of each student. He looks back at his class. Most students are patiently waiting to hear the announcement, so they can continue preparing for the next few coming days.

“Before you all leave, I see many of you have decided to apply to transfer to Hero Academies in Korea. Some elsewhere. That doesn’t matter. My only concern is you passing all your classes.” 

He took a deep breath. “So, I just want to wish you good luck to each one of you before your exam. I know you’ll do great. Dismiss.”

\---------------------♦️---------------------

Hyejin is walking in front of her friend group of 3 barely listening to their conversation about the examination. She could care less what’s on it. She has been preparing for it for over 6 months already. She never had to train or study this hard before, but for the first time and the longest time, she is determined to get into one of them. From the intense workout for her quirks and studying for the written exam, Hyejin just wants it to be over. 

“Hyejin! Did you hear us?” Jae shouted from behind.

“Sorry, not really. I’ve kinda been zoning out.”

“Aish, you been like this for a while. Are you sure you are okay to take the exam” Hyun said with great concern on his face.

“Oh definitely. I’m so ready.” Hyejin mumbles to herself, “Ready to get this over with.” 

“Hyun, she has nothing to be worried about. Every hero school will basically want her, since she is the only person that holds 3 quirks. No one has that ever. They would honestly beg her to join their school if she showed off her quirk more.” Mirae hits Hyun’s head for asking a ridiculous question.

“I’m not like doubting her or anything, but you know test-anxiety is real and her test is like tomorrow. We have another day or two to get ready” Hyun fires back at Mirae. 

“Thanks for the concern, but I’ll be okay.”

As they continue their path to go back home, Jae stops and notices a short scrawny girl in their school’s uniform on the other side of the street. Jae smiles and elbow bumps Hyun’s rib. They both give each other a funny look before Mirae turns to them and stares at them.

Mirae is puzzled and asks, “What are you guys laughing about?”

Jae replies back and points, “Over there. There’s a girl over there.”

“Oooo. You got a crush on her or something.” Mirae smirks back at Jae.

Jae’s face turns into immediate disgust,“ What, gross. No. How could you say that? She's quirkless. Give me some standards, dude.”

“How do you know if she’s quirkless? We have been over this like a million times, but your thick skull apparently hasn’t comprehended this. You can’t assume things anymore.” She stabs her finger to his skull.

“But, this time is true. Not like the other times, I have assumed that the new kids are quirkless. She’s in our class with Hyejin and me, and she’s only been here for like 3 months or something. I can just tell this time is true.”

“I think you should stop assuming and let them live their lives. They’re human still.” Hyun responds back to Jae.

“Humans without quirks are not really humans with quirks. We aren’t equal.”

“Hyejin, please help me out here.” Mirae complains to Hyejin. Hyejin is confused with what just happened and responds with a head tilt.

Mirae was about to cover Jae’s mouth with her hand knowing something stupid was about to occur. “YO QUIRKLESS!” Jae shouted as loud as he could. Mirae slaps the back of his head for his idiocrasy. Hyun is laughing knowing something interesting is about to happen. The girl turns her head quickly and notices Hyejin and her group and decides to walk faster away from them.

“She acknowledges that she’s quirkless. She is ONE of them.”

“Or maybe, she’s scared of you and your lack of brain cells.” Before Mirae could stop Jae from bolting as fast as he could, Hyejin grabs his shoulder. Jae turns around staring at Hyejin straight on. Their eyes interlock and glaring at each other. 

“Leave the quirkless alone.” Hyejin said seriously. Jae pushes her arm away making her let go of his shoulder.

“That’s rich coming from you. Last time I checked you used to beat up quirkless and bully people.”

Hyejin grabs Jae by his collar and lifts him easily. “I’ve changed. It’s wrong, and you should follow that too, if you want to be a hero.”

“Fine. Just let me go. This is embarrassing for me.” Hyejin drops him and keeps on walking. Hyun slaps the back of Jae’s head and whispers idiot into his ear. Jae scoffs at it and thinks to himself, if the whole school finds out, she’s pretty much dead anyways. It’s only a matter of time. Someone else is going to find out sooner or later and she’s gonna get hurt.

The group begins to disband to head back to their homes. Hyejin waves off bye to them all. They all wished each other good luck before their exams. Hyejin was a block away from her house and couldn’t wait to go back and take a quick nap. 

Until, she notices a group of guys huddling around in a circle. Hyejin realizes they’re probably trouble and begins to walk back to the path that she came before to avoid them. But then, she heard, “-quirkless aren’t welcome here.” Hyejin snaps back towards them with irritation. She notices that they’re a group of five seniors ahead of her beating up someone. She takes off her wristband and wraps it around her fingers making a finger gun pose. Hyejin squints her eyes and aims for the strongest looking one there is. She flings back the wristband and shoots at one of the seniors' arms, knocking him down to the ground.

One of them looks over to see where that shot came from and detects Hyejin,“ Oh, it’s you, again. Listen, if this is one of yours. We’ll back off.” 

Hyejin didn’t know what to reply to ‘one of yours’. Sure, she has bullied others and gotten in fights before and made it well known that she was a bully, but that was in the past, like maybe a month or two ago. Hyejin wasn’t going to bully anyone anymore, and risk her admission to any hero academies for poor behavior. She made sure she’ll be on her best behavior ‘til and forever or as long as she can. But, if she doesn’t claim them as hers, this person will continue to be a victim by them. 

Hyejin sighs and walks over using her tough tone, “Yeah, their mine. Get out before I hurt you all, again.” 

The seniors decided to leave as it was their best option to survive. Hyejin recognizes the victim. It was the same girl from before that Jae called out. She has some cuts on her arm and scrapes on her knee. She must have tried to block their attacks with her arms and probably fell on her knees. Her frames were on the ground torn in half. Hyejin immediately picks it up, but as she was about to give it back to her she notices that her eyes fill with tears and her lips quiver in fear.

“Listen, I’m really sorry. Just, please don’t hurt me”. She spoke so quietly.

Hyejin barely hears her and panics realizing that this poor girl thinks that she’ll get into another fight with her, “Oh, no. I’m not gonna beat you up or anything like that. I just feel bad for you.”

“Why, cause I’m ‘quirkless’ and you should pity people like us.” 

“No, that’s not it. I just...you’re being beat up and they won’t stop until someone stronger stops them. So, I had to stop them and claim you. They go really far in hurting people, as you can tell. I won't hurt you, I swear.”

The girl stares back at her and takes her sleeves towards her face wiping her tears from her eyes. She takes her glasses back from Hyejin and holds onto it. She gets up from the ground and begins to walk.

Hyejin taps the girl’s shoulder, which startles the short girl. “Do you want me to walk you back home?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ve done this before.”

Hyejin watches the girl from behind as the girl limps back towards her home. “It must be so awful being quirkless. Thank goodness that I have something or I would end up like her.” Hyejin thought to herself as she went back home.

Hyejin had enough of today. 

\---------------------♦️---------------------

_BEEP BEEP_

Hyejin’s eyes peek open and check her alarm. 6:10 A M on a Saturday. She hits the snooze button again. Her eyes pop out again. 6:10 . Suddenly, she remembers today was the exam. She also recalls that she needs to get on the bus in 20 minutes from now. 

Hyejin barely had enough time to get ready for the most important occasion of her life. She somehow made it to the bus station to head to Seoul. Completely out of breath, she was able to manage to get to the bus. 

“6:30 Bus heading to Seoul?” The bus driver asks.

Hyejin wheezes in and out, and hands her ticket to verify her travel,“ Yes, sir.”

“There’s a few seats remaining. Just sit wherever you can.”

“Thank you.” Hyejin nods to him and boards the bus. She notices the bus was filled to the brim of kids that she can only assume were students heading to take their hero entrance exam. Hyejin thought to herself these are going to be my competitors soon. She continues to walk down the aisle to find her a seat. 

“May I sit here?” Hyejin asks a boy where his bags were placed.

“Um, sorry. Saving this seat for a friend.”

“Ah, sorry for bothering you.”

Hyejin proceeds to walk down a couple more seats and found a girl wearing earbuds and seemingly asleep face towards the window. Hyejin taps the girl’s shoulder. The girl turns over with a broken frame that had a tape attaching the two halves together.

“Oh, it’s you again. Sorry for bothering your sleep, but can I sit here?” Hyejin politely asks. The girl looks around the bus and nods her head. 

“Thank you. I’m Hyejin, by the way.” 

“Wheein.” 

“Nice meeting you again, Wheein.” Hyejin gleefully smiles and Wheein forces a smile back showing off her dimples. Wheein turns her head towards the window and continues to try to fall back asleep. Hyejin decides to do the same until she arrives in Seoul.

The bus took off shortly after and headed to Seoul.

\---------------------♦️---------------------

Wheein couldn’t sleep. Her eyes have been closed for over 1 hour and still she can’t fall asleep. Maybe it’s her anxiety for the entrance exam that she worries so much for. It also doesn’t help that Hyejin is next to her snoring quietly resting her head on top of her shoulder. Her heart was pulsing rapidly, and she fears that Hyejin will wake up because of her heart beat.

Why of all people Hyejin must sit next to her. Wheein still recalls the time that Hyejin fought her leaving her with the mental scars that have barely faded away. Wheein was sure that Hyejin didn’t recognize her and she will keep it that way. She assumes that Hyejin probably forgot about the whole incident as it has been years. But, it never left Wheein’s mind. 

Wheein overheard some girls were gossiping about Hyejin behind her during lunch a couple days ago after she transferred into the school. 

_“God, I hate her.”_

_“Who, Hyejin?”_

_Hyejin. Why does that name sound so familiar? Sure, Hyejin is her classmate, but Wheein felt that she met Hyejin before._

_“Yes, Hyejin. Who else I would be talking about. We have been talking about her for a while now. She acts almighty and everything just because she has three quirks. While the rest of us have to pretend that she’s going to protect us one day, because she plans to be a hero. But really she’s more cut out to be a villain than a hero. It’s honestly disgusting.”_

_Three quirks. No way. It can’t be that Hyejin._

_“Honestly, I think she made a big improvement. She hasn’t gotten in a fight in a while or bullied me.”_

_“It’s been like a week. Each time she is caught, she gets away with it somehow.”_

_Oh god, she remembered who Hyejin was now. Hyejin was her first person on the list of many that have hurted her. Hyejin definitely looks different from before. Her hair grew out a bit to her shoulder and seemed a bit slimmer. She definitely got taller. But, the way she walks around the school having that arrogant attitude walking around and having those around her in fear. She should have realized earlier._

\---------------------♦️---------------------

_Wheein used to always go to the park near their house before they moved out of Jeonju. Her grandma would take four years old Wheein to go on a walk with the other grannies. Her grandma would always enjoy spending time with her only granddaughter. While Wheein’s grandma was more invested in gossiping with the other grandparents, Wheein’s eye was on the playground that they always walked around._

_She never got to play with the other kids, but every single time she passed by; she always wanted to join them. They seemed so happy and she wanted to be with people her age so much._

_“Halmoni, can I play with the other kids today?”_

_Her grandmother patted her hair and ruffled it a bit. Her grandmother looked over to see the kids. The kids seemed a bit older compared to Wheein, but she couldn’t resist Wheein’s adorable smile. Her grandmother nodded her head. Wheein smiled gleefully and ran over to the other kids and heard._

_“-okay, so we need another player until Hyejin arrives,” said the lanky boy that wore a navy t-shirt with a skull on it. He noticed Wheein running over. He was definitely older, maybe a couple of years. He waved at her. “Hey you, what’s your name?”_

_“Hi, my name is Jung Wheein.”_

_“Wheein, do you wanna play with us?”_

_“Yes. What are we playing?”_

_“Baseball, but soft. Softball. ” The boy joked and showed off his smile towards Wheein and showed the yellow leather-like ball in front of her._

_Everyone got in position. Wheein was on the outer side of the field. She was told to catch the ball as fast as she can and give it to the older kids near kids near the yellow diamond plates. Wheein was just so eager to play with them._

_A pink bloused girl began to pitch the ball out to a green-shirt boy and he swung the bat as hard as he could. The neon yellow ball was flying over their heads. Wheein knew there’s no chance to get it. Suddenly, one of the guys stretched his arm upward and his arm started to elongate and caught the ball easily and threw it back to the pitcher._

_Wheein’s jaw dropped looking at the boy’s arm shrunk down. She never witnessed someone using their quirk in person up close before._

_“You okay, Wheein?” the girl pitcher shouted out to her._

_“Yes, Unnie. I’m surprised we can use quirks to play softball.”_

_“Ah I must have forgotten to tell you, we play softball with our quirks. Sorry we forgot to tell you, what’s your quirk?”_

_Wheein answered honestly, “I haven’t got my quirk, yet.”_

_“Oh, how old are you?” The girl seemed surprised._

_“I’m four, but I’m going to turn 5 soon.” Wheein smiled happily seeing nothing wrong with her not having her quirk yet._

_“You should have received your quirk by now.” The elongating arm boy said._

_“Unless, she’s actually quirkless.”_

_“May I ask what that is?” Wheein confused by the term, quirkless. This was the first time she has ever heard the word before, and it won’t be the last time. She knew what quirk was, but never heard the word, quirkless, before._

_“That would make sense. You’re quirkless, aren’t you.”_

_All of the kids started to walk closer to her. One of the batters got too close to Wheein and stared down at her. His stare was so intense that Wheein began to feel goosebumps in her skin. She didn’t understand what she did wrong, but soon she’ll understand why._

_“I’m really sorry. I don’t - ”_

_The ground started to shake a bit. It rumbled a bit and then it stopped. Slowly bright yellow flowers started to sprout underneath their feet. The kids looked around and spotted a girl holding another softball on her pitcher’s gloves._

_“Ah, our star player, the three-quirk user. Come over here Hyejin. We have an unwelcome guest.” The navy-shirt boy smirked at Wheein._

_The young girl walked over joyfully and asked, “Who’s she?”_

_“Doesn’t matter. She’s quirkless.”_

_“Quirkless, huh.” Hyejin scratched the back of her head. Hyejin’s golden eyes began to wander to the corner of her eyes. Her smile grew, and Wheein felt her fear had washed away. Wheein smiled back at Hyejin. Hyejin lifted her arm. Suddenly, Wheein heard a quick swift and soon she realized that Hyejin threw the ball to her chest._

_“That’s what you get, quirkless! We never want to play with people like you ever again. Understand.”_

_The throw was the most intense thing Wheein has ever felt. Her body flew down to the ground feeling her lunch was coming up to her throat. Her elbow lessens the impact a bit. Wheein could barely breath after the throw. Wheein was struggling gasping for air. The other kids began to laugh and congratulate Hyejin’s impressive throw. Wheein’s eyes started to tear up and began to quiver. Her body wouldn’t stop shaking as she tried to get on her feet. Wheein immediately began to run and look for her grandma. She never felt so scared before this much. She wanted to be protected. It hurted each time she tried to take a breath of air, but she knew she needed to get out of there as soon as she could._

_When Wheein thought she was far enough, she tried to catch some breath. It stung, but then suddenly Wheein felt something slammed on her back. She plummbled to the ground. Her knees were scraped and her palm had some scratches. Wheein turned over to see what impacted it was a yellow softball._

_She recognized a few of the kids approaching her closer from several feets away. Wheein immediately headed to the forest part of the park._

_She was at the dead end of the route. Nowhere to go. Wheein’s head spun around and spotted a log that she could hide inside of. The older kids got to the dead end and were stumped. They lost wherever Wheein went, but they knew she was close by and couldn’t go that far off._

_"That little rascal disappeared.”_

_"Come out, we’re ‘sorry’ for what happened. Just come out and we’ll get ice cream. How’s that sound?”_

_She covered her mouth, so they couldn't hear her heavily breathing. Her heartbeat was racing and felt her stomach twist. She wanted to go home. She wants to find her grandma more than anything else._

_What a brat. We were having so much fun. Let’s head back with the rest. I’m getting bored looking for the quirkless.”_

_They began to walk down the route to head back to the playground. Wheein waited another 5 minutes to make sure they wouldn't come back, and peaked outside the log to see if they were really gone. Wheein finally got to breathe normally again._

_Wheein got out of her hiding spot and walked around to find her grandma. Dirt and scrapes and blood covered her soft skin. She found her soon, and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. She wrapped her arms around her grandma’s leg and bawled her eyes out. She finally felt safe again._

\---------------------♦️---------------------

Wheein looks back at the time and feels her heart pang with pain. She looks on her right shoulder where Hyejin fell asleep. 

“You were the reason I hated myself for so long. You hurted me and I was most likely not your first victim, and there’s probably more after me... I can’t blame you entirely for my problems. Everywhere I went, people like you, always came after me.” Wheein thought to herself. 

\---------------------♦️---------------------

_When Wheein came back home with her grandma, she immediately had to get cleaned and treated for her injuries. Her father came out of his reading to notice Wheein had bandages on her knees and had minor cuts. Her grandma explained what happened at the park to Wheein’s father._

_“Let me cook your favorite dishes, sonnyeo.” Her grandma kissed her chubby cheeks and headed to the kitchen. Wheein felt comfort and was happy to feel safe again. She smiled again with tears that streamed down her face._

_"It’s going to be okay, honey.” Her father's rough but gentle hand wiped more tears from Wheein’s cheeks. He hugged her tiny body. Wheein had one question that bothered her. She looked at her father’s eye with her round curious eyes and wanted to ask him._

_“Appa, what's quirkless?”_

_“Is that what the other kids called you?” His shoulder tensed up._

_“Uhuh. What does it mean?”_

_Her father hesitated and took a deep sigh and knew that this conversation would eventually happen sooner or later. He never wanted Wheein to have to learn this or experience this. It was all his fault that she'll forever have to taunted. “Quirkless means that you don’t have a quirk. Most kids usually get it around your age.”_

_“So, I don’t have a quirk?” Wheein’s heart dropped to the pits. She wanted to cry more, but couldn’t anymore._

_“Maybe, but we don’t know yet, sweetie. You may have it or not. Remember what Dr. Kim said?”_

_“I’ll grow taller one day?”_

_“Yes, but we aren’t sure.”_

_“When will I have a quirk?”_

_He gave a kind dimpled smile that they both shared. “I wish I knew, but we don’t know when.”_

_“Is it bad being quirkless?”_

_“No such thing. Being quirkless is special. Not many people are quirkless. Your mommy and me are both quirkless. There’s nothing wrong with being quirkless. As long as you’re happy that’s what matters the most.”_

_Wheein still remembers that day to be one of her saddest memories that she had._

\---------------------♦️---------------------

“- close by.”

Wheein startles by Hyejin’s voice, snapping her up from her daydream. Wheein turns around to Hyejin’s face, which also Hyejin gets startled by Wheein’s reaction. 

“Sorry for startling you, but do you know if we are close to Seoul?”

“We have like another hour or so, I think”

The entire bus is ever so quiet and all you can hear is some kids snoring and the engine rumbling underneath them. A few of the kids are cramming a few lessons down before the written exam.

“Wheein, just want to say sorry for what my friend did to you yesterday. He kinda has rocks for brains, and doesn’t have manners.”

“It’s okay.” Wheein utter dryly as ever.

“Hey, you don’t happen to be going to be going to Imperium Academy for your entrance exam?”

“Yes. I’m going to Imperium for my entrance.” 

Hyejin weirdly felt that there was some sort of connection, despite their dry conversation so far, in the air. First she met this girl yesterday, and she appears again on the same bus at the same time on the same day. This person is no coincidence, maybe it’s the universe telling her something. She doesn’t know what though.

“Do you want to walk there together after we land?”

“Sure.” They both felt the awkwardness in their conversation. 

“So, what are you listening to?”

“Oh, do you want to listen?” Wheein hands one of her earbuds to Hyejin. 

“Thanks.” Hyejin let herself be consumed by the music as she immediately recognized the singer. 

“Oh, I know this American singer. She is amazing, absolutely underrated. I love her attitude. Her voice is so powerful, yet sweet. I’m surprised you listen to her, not many people know about her.” Hyejin grins at Wheein. 

Wheein smiles genuinely back. Hyejin seems different from what Wheein remembered her as. She seems so chill and more sincere compared to what she assumed Hyejin was. Maybe Hyejin changed, and that thought reassured Wheein that Hyejin isn’t as bad as the person she thought she was.

Throughout their bus ride, they talked about their favorite music and artist to their interest in the hero world. It felt like they haven’t stopped talking. They ramble with each other with various conversations. Both of them never found someone who shared so much of their interest before. Hyejin likes to think she has a particular taste in music, which none of her friends enjoys. Hyejin feels strangely comfortable with Wheein. She senses an ease wash over her. 

They get off the bus and walk with each other side by side. They still haven’t stopped talking until they get closer to Imperium Academy. Hyejin gasps and stares about how large Imperium Academy was. It was a few acres wide and had a ten story building that illuminates that centered everything. It had a nice modern architecture design with a brick gate surrounding the whole campus.

There was a clusters of students standing outside of the gate ready to take their exam. There are volunteers of Imperiums’ students trying to get through paperwork to get the kids inside the gate as fast as they can. Hyejin and Wheein approach the table lined with volunteers. Hyejin handed her documentation to the male volunteer who seemed disinterested.

“Name?”

“Ahn Hyejin”

“Here’s your folder. We have been expecting you. We look forward to your performance. I wish you the best of luck.”

Hyejin waits for Wheein to get her folder and they start to walk inside the campus together. It was breathtaking. While it had a modern-take of a design, it had a plethora of trees, flowers, and further down they saw other buildings.

Before they were consumed completely by the beauties of the campus, an older girl was sounding direction towards them. She was signing with her arms pointing out the multi-color arrows. She had long brown hair with the brightest smile. Her sapphire eye gleams that Wheein thought she was going to become blind.

The smiley girl chirps, “Past me, there’s arrows. The hero-course entrance exam is on the right path, just follow the yellow arrows. The hero-support entrance exam has the green arrows. Anyone else follows the red arrows. Good luck, everybody.”

“See you around Hyejin. Wheein turned to the direction of the green arrows.

“Wait, you’re not applying to the hero-course?”

Wheein laughs, “I wish. I’m applying to the hero-support course.” Wheein shows the briefcase that had a red ‘17’ inscribed on the silver bulky briefcase. How did Hyejin not notice something so big? She must have been too distracted by their conversation. Before she realized, her old habits were catching up to her. Her mouth moves faster than her mind at that split second.

“So, you’re really quirkless.” Hyejin sounds off almost mockingly towards Wheein.

Wheein gleeful smile disappears replacing it with frown. Her tiny body filled with anger instantaneously. Her hand tightens on the case. “You haven’t changed at all. They were right about you; I should have listened and stayed away from you. I honestly thought we could have been friends. . . Maybe in an alternate universe, we could have been friends.” Wheein storms quickly off separating from Hyejin, breathing heavily to calm down.

It was too late. Wheein left Hyejin alone. She is stunned by Wheein’s comment. Hyejin wants to say sorry and tell her that it just slipped out by accident. She knew she could come off blunt and off-putting to others, but this is a low even for her. Hyejin slowly realizes that she destroyed what could have been an amazing friendship. 

“Last call for the writing exam!” One of the volunteers shouts out.

Hyejin went on her way to take her exam, dejected by the whole incident.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I forgot I had an Ao3 account... Anyways, I wrote this awhile ago on AFF.

Edit 12/19/2020: Clean a few grammatical error that I noticed. :))<br />  
Edit 1/8/2021: Fixed lining and spacing. :D


	2. Chapter 2

Hyejin is sitting calmly as possible on the bus; however, it doesn’t help that she curls and uncurls her fist repeatedly. She stares at the window as trees move past her to distract her mind. Her thoughts are filled to the brim with the instructions given to her. It feels like her head might just explode. She tries to recall the direction for the physical exam, hopefully haven’t forgotten anything yet. The announcer’s voice repeats in her head.

_“Listen up, you’ll be transported to one of our training battlegrounds. In our training ground, you will be placed in our urban city environment. Each training ground will hold 50 participants each round. You have 1 hour to score as many points as possible. To receive points, you must defeat or demobilize our training robots. There’s three forms of enemy bots, each one has their own value. The easiest has 1 point value, the medium has 2 points and the hardest has 3 points.”_

Hyejin knows her written score wouldn't impress many schools, but maybe if she scores high enough on the physical exam; she could get into at least one of them. 

\---------------------♦️---------------------

_“Ms. Ahn. You’re back. When will this end? You get into trouble. You end up here. I have to write a report that I don’t want to. You have to apologize. Do you ever get tired of this?”_

_“...Yes, Sir. I’ll do better next time and this won’t happen again.” Hyejin looked regretful at the headmaster._

_“Excellent.”_

_Hyejin was walking back to her home from the headmaster’s office until someone slowly creeped behind Hyejin, and wrapped their arm around her. Hyejin immediately felt their presence and grabbed their wrist, tightening her grip._

_“Hyejin! it’s just me.” Someone shrieked behind her._

_“Daeho, don’t scare me like that.” Hyejin released her deadly grip, realizing that it was her friend. He had a short buzzed haircut and wore his favorite navy blue shirt with an English text that Hyejin couldn’t decipher. His fashion hasn’t changed at all._

_“You got stronger, I see.” Daeho grinned, impressed by Hyejin’s strength, as he tried to shake off the pain. But Hyejin saw a shimmer of a tear in his eye, but it wasn’t from her grip. Something was bothering her friend._

_“I sure did. Did something happen?” Hyejin tried to flex her bicep while poking her squishy arm in front of her childhood friend trying to joke around hoping it could cheer her friend._

_“Eh. I didn’t get into any.” He solemnly grinned back at Hyejin._

_“No school accepted you?”_

_“Nah. Not even Imperium Academy wanted me. That’s crazy, cause everyone preaches that they are the most lenient in accepting students, especially someone like me and ... you.”_

_“Oh, that sucks.” Hyejin wanted to find the right words to comfort her friend, but couldn’t. It was too predictable that he couldn’t get in. They both doubt about the possibility of acceptance, and sure enough it happened. Hyejin always wanted to be a hero, and the guarantee for that is getting into a hero academy, but she messed up too much already. She wants to be the top hero. The number 1. She wants to guarantee her family an easy living, never having to worry about money ever again. Why did she ever do that?_

_“Do you remember playing as heroes vs villains when we were kids?”_

_“Yea. I know where you are going with this. I could be the very best hero in the world, if I could. You know, I really want to, but … with my past. I don’t think I can. They’ll reject me immediately when they see my records.” Hyejin felt ashamed and had instant regret._

_“Listen, you’re really capable. You of all people are gifted... I can’t say I ever met someone that had 3 quirks. I think out of anyone in this city, you can definitely be a top hero, like Crimson Quartz.”_

_“You complement me too much. Everyone says I can, but also people say I shouldn't. I’m too much of a ‘villain’. But even if I did, all those schools cost a fortune. We have to pay so much for tuition, itself. You know, I can’t burden my family. My family is in a great deal of debt at the moment and I just can’t do that to them.”_

_“...They’ll help with the cost. That’s what I’ve read. They’re more accepting. They’ll help you out if you get in. Hyejin, please. Get into a hero school. Give it your best shot. Please, do it for us. I wish I didn’t put you to this path or pressured you to do anything that you did. I would hate to see you waste your talent, and not follow your dream. I’m sorry.” Daeho swallowed with guilt._

\---------------------♦️--------------------

She didn’t want to burden her parents with her dreams of becoming a hero. She needs to make a good impression, despite her records. Maybe that’s why Hyejin is feeling off from her usual self. She’s more confident than this. For once, she feels like absolute garbage. Hyejin hates it. She feels that she can throw up at any moment. It didn’t help that her head hurt more than ever after taking the awful written exam. She tries to ignore the anxiety that is slowly creeping in.

She attempts to listen to the other student’s conversation around her to give her some clue on how to handle the exam, but everyone’s voices, on the bus, are jumbled up. She deciphers some conversations.

“I don’t even know how I got this far. My quirk is turning everything I sip into vomit.”

“I’m so nervous. I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

“There’s no way my quirk will get any points. How am I going to score any points?”

Finally, the bus halts. All of the students are ready to board off. Some seem confident. A majority didn’t. When they finally got to the training grounds. There are volunteers guiding them to their correct destination. Before Hyejin realizes she was in front of the gate, Hyejin is stunned just by the entrance. The sealed metal gate is about 20 meters tall. A concrete wall surrounds the battle-ground. There is a crowd in front of her chatting alongside each other. Maybe she should get in front of them, so that she can get a head start. 

“Once the gate has opened, the exam has begun. Throughout the exam, you’ll hear an update announcement on the time left every 15 minutes. When the exam is over, there will be a buzz sound. Any score after the buzz will no longer count.”

Hyejin tries to reassure herself. “You have nothing to worry about. Everyone of them is not as talented as you are. So stop being nervous. You have this undercontrolled. You’re the one with an advantage. What can that kid sip and make into vomit. They can’t destroy it or immobilize anything, but my quirk can.” She takes a deep breath. Hyejin’s confidence exponentially rises up and everything feels calm to her. Everything is in her favor. Her fingers release the tension that she kept throughout the day. There’s nothing for her to worry. Her shoulder relaxes, back straightens, and a grin appears on her face.

The entrance gate slowly slides open. Hyejin takes a quick deep breath, and stares straight. Her leg muscle tightens;ready to bolt out to the center. Everything felt calm and a loud thud can be heard from the entrance. The exam has just begun. 

\---------------------♦️---------------------

The crowd rushes forward to get as much action as possible. Hyejin musters enough courage and dashes past as fast as she could. She may not be the fastest, but she refuses to be left behind.

As Hyejin scurries to find some action, her eyes dart to a green mechanical bot quickly appearing from her side. Her reflex took immediate action and her fist curls up and punches against the cold iron body. It dents so easily on impact. It feels like punching cardboard. The three-pointer immediately flies back the direction where it came from and proceeds to continue flying away. Someone notices it flying towards her, in the corner of her eyes. She immediately bubbles shield herself as the robot was about to collide against her. 

The robot explodes into pieces before it hits her shield. The bubble shield bounces all the shrapnel away from the girl. The blue bubble bursts. She snaps her head to see where the robot came from, and notices it was Hyejin’s direction.

“What the. That one was a three pointer, too, and she easily knocks it out by one punch. I barely was able to defeat one with ease at all.”

Hyejin did not notice the girl’s stare and continued off to get more points. She proceeds on punching any bots that she saw. They were far too easy for one pointer for her. As she moves closer to the center, she sees a couple of students in front of her struggling to defeat several two-pointer bots. Hyejin stomps down her foot and the ground begins to shake, rupturing underneath the robots. They all sank underneath the ground immobilizing them. Then, all of them quickly exploded in front of her. The couple of students stood there shaking below their knees. Hyejin just gives off a quick smirk and keeps pushing, punching, and creating tremors to defeat more bots. Hyejin is most proud of herself that her training paid off, as the exam was too easy. 

The excitement. _KABOOM_ . The rush. _CRASH_ . The ability to use all her strength that she kept under-controlled was unleashed. She experiences a sense of freedom that she never was able to have. Hyejin has never once used this amount of her quirks in one day. _BOOM._ She always had to hold back her quirks, but today, she is free to let go. 

Her leg feels a bit tired from all the stomping and running she had done to cause all the tremor and her fist was turning purple. It was starting to hurt a bit. She can’t keep this up. 

There’s a few more iron-plated robots in front of her that caught her attention. They might be the three-pointers that she needs to pass this exam. Hyejin usually isn’t the fastest person or has enough endurance usually. But, on this occasion, her adrenaline has skyrocketed. She runs for it. The robots are head-on to collide with her. When the three-pointers are too close to comfort and about to take fire, Hyejin slams her foot against the pavement. A tremor gently shakes the ground. Hyejin didn’t have enough energy to make it strong enough to make it sink or explode, but it was enough to knock them over to the ground. They look like helpless turtles that fell on their backs. Hyejin begins ripping their weapons away from them leading it to be deactivated.

“How much longer do I have to keep this up?” Hyejin was completely out of breath. Hyejin tries to suck up as much air to keep going. However, her sides begin to hurt.

“15 minutes left on the clock,” the announcement hollers.

Hyejin hears scream from behind her. A few test takers are being chased by two-pointers. They were far away, but she saw it coming fast.

Pathetic. 

“Move out of the way, now.” Hyejin takes a strong stance. Her shoulder and knees are lined up. Her fists are ready to punch. The four test takers split up so that Hyejin had a clear path to throw her fist. The bots are far away from Hyejin and can’t make physical contact, but she has a plan. Hyejin throws out her left punch in the air. She creates enough air pressure to make contact knocking them all over. The robot falls to the ground and is unable to get up.

Hyejin smiles. She still has some strength left to keep going. “Thank you so much.” Hyejin just nods. 

Suddenly dust and smoke starts to appear. It seems like a boss fight is about to happen. Little did Hyejin know, it would be a boss fight. Students start running past her shouting “Get Out. The Titan is about to wake up.”

The Titan.

Oh no. She forgot from the announcement. The Titan will appear around the last few minutes of the exam. 

_“The Titan appears in the last 15 minutes. It is the largest machine we have and it is to see how all of you handle a great foe. You can defeat yourself, but I highly doubt anyone of you can do it alone. It is designed to show how you work as a team with others and defeat it together. The worth is unknown. We determine the worth based on your actions.”_

Unfortunately, most people are scared of it and are running for their dear life. Hyejin couldn’t blame them. They were too weak to fight it. She would naturally just punch it, but her fists are too weak at the moment. She didn’t have enough strength to make a tremor to knock it down. This environment prohibits her from growing flowers, like that would do anything. She needs a new strategy. The Titan is getting up from its slumber. She needs a new strategy now.

“Hey, you! You got super strength, right?” Someone shouts next to her, which startles Hyejin.

“...Yea. Why?”

“Good, I found you. Listen real fast, I make a bubble. You get inside of it with one of those robot firing arms. Once you float up real high, say above the robot, the bubble bursts. You chuck it really hard into its head and it explodes and goes down.”

Who is this girl? Why is she telling me what to do? Hyejin can handle this alone.

“Listen, I can handle it myself. I don’t need your plan.”

“You can handle it? I can see your hand and legs are shaking from all the punches and tremors you did.”

The Titian starts to move towards the entrance.

“Yea, I can. I don’t need your help. I can just punch its leg, and it falls.”

The Titan is six blocks away from them. 

“If you do, it will fall...towards us. It will go down on us. Some of these students can’t even protect themselves. There would be too much of a casualty. My plan will work. Everyone is nowhere behind the piece of garbage and when it falls. It will fall backward where no one will be at.”

The Titan is five blocks away from them. 

“I don’t work well with others. I actually hate being told what to do. So, if you just leave with the rest of the students, I’ll knock it down real fast.”

“I don’t care if you don’t work well with others, and I know for a fact you do not have enough energy to knock that garbage down. So suck it up.”

The Titan is four blocks away from them. 

“You are going to punch the Titan down. I saw you earlier, and you didn’t have enough strength to knock out some two-pointers. You can’t even handle this behemoth. Your knuckles are bruised up, and you still think you got this?”

This girl is getting on Hyejin’s nerves. Maybe Hyejin should punch her and then punch the robot. However, she has a point. It wasn’t bad of a plan.

The Titan is three blocks away from them. Hyejin swallows her pride.

“...Fine,” Hyejin grabs one of the detached arms. 

The girl started making a bubble with her palms around Hyejin. Once the blue bubble was sealed. The bubble girl lifts the bubble up and pushes it up far as she can. Hyejin is quickly floating up towards the sky. Hyejin has never been this high up before. She might be twenty meters above ground. 

Soon enough, she is in front of the Titan’s head. The bubble starts to weaken. She grips on the arm.

“Aim for the head.” Hyejin thought to herself.

Hyejin begins to swing her arm and immediately feels her arm was straining. She can’t back up now. The bubble is about to burst. She chucks the metal arm outward towards the head. She feels that she just pulled on one of her muscles. The bubble bursts. 

Hyejin starts to fall down. The arm immediately penetrated through, and exploded the Titan’s head. The Titan shut down, and is falling backward. 

Hyejin smiles at the success. The plan worked. The only problem is how she is going to land. She looks down, which was a bad idea. Hyejin soon discovers that she is very afraid of height. Hyejin’s mind convinces her she will plunge to her death.

“I can’t die yet. I haven’t kissed anyone. I’m too young to die like this.” Hyejin’s thought pours out. 

Luckily before Hyejin starts to cry about her death, Hyejin landed on a wet, but cushiony bubble. Hyejin is relieved that she didn’t fall to her death. The girl saved her. 

Then the buzzer rang. The exam was over. Hyejin takes a deep breath trying to calm her rush of adrenaline. “I think that’s the best that they’ll ever see from anybody.”

\---------------------♦️---------------------

A week later, in a conference room filled with the heads of Imperium Academy. 

The headmaster announces to the room, ”Alright everyone, tonight is another round of evaluations. As part of the board, we will be looking through many student files determining whether they qualify to be part of our school.”

After rejecting and accepting plenty of students, a file, named Ahn Hyejin, is displayed on the screen for the viewing for the faculties. Clips of Hyejin successfully demolishing the difficult enemies' mechanical bots were being displayed. The room is in awe of Hyejin's technique. Her scores were also shown as well as her resume of her abilities. One of the younger female board members raises from her seat and begins discussing Hyejin's demonstration throughout her process.

“Ahn Hyejin. She is one of the most ,if not more memorable, candidates that we have seen in a long time. Her written exam score barely passes our minimum, but her display during the physical exam shows great promises. Her physical score broke Korea’s Student Hero Admission. Scoring 74 points only and 10 rescue points. Totaling to 84 points, which surpass the previous hold record by 6 points.”

A senior board member raises their hand and gets acknowledged by the headmaster to argue against, “While her performance is extremely remarkable, let's not forget that she had a few incidents of outburst and violent performances in her past. We cannot accept her as a student, as she would reflect poorly on Imperium.” A few heads nod around the room with the consensus.

The younger board member refutes back, “True, while her records may not be the cleanest that we prefer, but we have accepted students with similar past like her, and they all have grown up well and are successful.”

The headmaster also notes, “besides her past reputation, we are well-known to look past that and look for student’s seeking improvement of self, which she has shown as she hasn’t done it in a while.”

“You can’t be serious. We’ve already accepted more than the usual amount of delinquents already, one happens to almost destroy her entire school and student body. We do not have the energy and resources to handle these types of students! We can’t keep up with the precedent of being an establishment to help bring peace by educating the younger generation, if we keep giving ourselves too many troublemakers.”

“Professor Kim. We have all agreed that we cannot discuss or refer to Ms. Moon as a delinquent or anything that’s similar, and her incident. She has qualified and has been punished by authorities, already. Continuing the topic of Ms. Ahn. Every academy has been vocaling about their interest in Ms. Ahn. Her first pick is us. I believe having Ms. Ahn’s talent and skills can be honed here. While her attitude is not the most acceptable, we can give her the chance to grow.”

The headmaster looks around the room to see if there’s any other board member that would wish to continue the discussion and pause, “We have heard both arguments. Now, raise your right hand to signal if Hyejin qualifies for our academy.”

\---------------------♦️---------------------

Hyejin’s eyes are pouring like a waterfall. Her nose sniffling and her arms hugging the letter that she just received. “I GOT IN!” 

* * *

**Author’s Note:**

Thank you for leaving kudos, bookmarking my story and leaving comments. I appreciate it greatly. 

For those who haven’t yet figured out Hyejin’s quirk. Hyejin’s quirks are Seismic Waves, Flower Manipulation, and Super Strength. I definitely have focused a lot on Super Strength. Sadly I mentioned briefly about Flower Manipulation. For those who are curious about why I gave her 3 quirks, I felt Hyejin is a very unique person and I wanted her to have something unique. Not going to lie, figuring out what Hyejin’s quirk should be took me the longest time. I initially gave her 2 quirks which were Sound Waves and Strength, but it didn’t feel right to me. I felt that there was an imbalance, which is why I changed it. 

I tried to make Hyejin pretty arrogant and very boastful as a character. Hopeful, I showed it.

If you guys are still waiting for Moonbyul and Solar, don’t worry. They are coming up next chapter. I foreshadowed them earlier on, but you’ll get a proper introduction to them. :))

For those who wish Wheein and Hwasa to be friends… give it a good amount of time until you’ll see that. 

Anyways, that concludes Arc I. Onwards to Arc II.


End file.
